What is the ultimate nature of reality?
When thinking about life, the largest spectrum of variety can come to mind as to which questions to ask. Questions asking how things came to be, why people behave the way they do, how we feel what we feel, what our origins really are… Many of these questions don’t have definite answers to them, but that doesn’t discourage us from trying to find answers. If anything, it makes us more motivated. One of such fundamental life questions regards the nature of reality. “What does that even mean?” you may ask. Well, it delves into existence, consciousness and being, and tries to find a reason that can explain what the purpose is of it all. How can such knowledge deepen our understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of life, if at all? And if we do find an answer, is it the only answer?
Carl Jung, a renowned psychologist, said “It is almost an absurd prejudice to suppose that existence can only be physical. As a matter of fact, the only form of existence of which we have immediate knowledge is psychic. We might as well say, on the contrary, that physical existence is a mere inference, since we know of matter only in so far as we perceive psychic images mediated by the senses.” This shines light on a very interesting perspective, one which emphasizes the perception of reality on one psyche, or consciousness, rather than the physical senses. This is a point of view that makes sense once one realizes that every physical input the body receives has to go through the mind to be actually felt by the body. In fact science has already resolved the problem of understanding how the neural mechanisms of our behavior and feelings are involved with our mental states. On the other side, the harder problem is to find out how the first-person experience is tied with the physical neurobiology of the brain, meaning how we can map consciousness to a specific area of the brain, if we can at all. Therefore we ask, is consciousness real? Is our subjective perception of reality subjective after all?
In the materialistic point of view, everything in the universe is made of energy, which can also be expressed as matter. This description does not include space for an abstract concept, such as that of the mind, which is instead part of the dualistic description (Nature’s Reality). This “mind” cannot be attributed to energy or matter, and yet it’s responsible for what we perceive as consciousness. This goes on to tackle a very important issue that has its roots in religion and spirituality, as consciousness can be seen as the spirit of someone’s body. In religious terms this would represent the essence that stays alive after the body dies and decays. Now, there is no proof out there to help us reason about this, and therefore we remain in the realm of ideas and guesses.
I am far from being a materialistic person, as those who know me can vouch for me saying that I keep my belongings until they turn too old and become bad to use. Although when dealing with reality, I believe that ultimately everything is made of matter. My assumptions may be wrong, of course, but my belief is based on the fact that history has patterns, and that it tends to repeat itself. Starting from the early ages of civilization, the first Gods were “created” in order to give an explanation to natural events such as rain, the sun rising and setting, a disastrous plague… Here the Gods represent the abstract part of reality, the one that matter does not intersect with. As science improved and developed, we were then able to see how these natural events actually had clear and simple scientific explanations, and that Gods were not needed anymore. Following the same pattern, I thus believe that, one day, there also will be an explanation for our consciousness that won’t have to rely on an explanation that is forced to remain abstract. By this I mean that science will be able to chemically, physically and biologically explain how humans perceive reality, through intricate neural patterns in the brain and complex mechanisms which we’re still unaware of. Only because something is unknown now it doesn’t mean it has to remain the same way forever.
We have already made many important advancements in the way that our senses give information for our brain to interpret reality. We know that environmental stimuli get translated in various areas of our brain which then makes us feel the wide range of emotions that we are so lucky to perceive. For example, the images we see in front of us are actually coming from the occipital lobe, and the sound we hear around us is actually coming from the temporal lobe (Nature’s Reality) This means that we are not actually seeing anything in front of us, but that we’re actually seeing what is inside our brain! Oliver Sacks, a famous neuroscientist, has done a magnitude of work on hallucinations. His theories affirm that everything we experience is but a version of reality; a regulated, reliable hallucination which we are accustomed to (Nature’s Reality). This means that all of reality is purely happening inside our own minds, and that the nature of what we perceive as reality is only a representation of the real world. When we add language on top of that, we add an additional layer of representation to what our minds are already seemingly elaborating on. And our brain can do all of that. Now, isn’t that fascinating?
As with any profound philosophical matter, any answer only adds to deepen the magnitude of the question at hand, by adding different opinions and thoughts that are often unique. When thinking about discovering the nature of reality I wonder what implications and results humanity will gain from. Will we be able to reach higher levels of consciousness? Are we going to unlock alternative psychological dimensions that will allow us to truly find our place in life? Perhaps we will be able to transcend our current reality and perceive the universe through a different set of lenses. Psychedelic substances have claimed over many centuries to have unlocked higher states of the mind, so perhaps we already have insight on what that scenario may look like. In the same way, meditation also promises similar results when practiced consistently and efficiently. In any case, my belief rests in the future of humanity. By continuing on developing new ways to map the brain and pushing innovation to an everlasting quest to explore the human mind, I am confident we will continue to gain new insight on what makes us who we are. The nature of reality may very well all be inside our minds, but the world that our consciousness makes us perceive, has no bounds.
References:
“Nature’s Reality.” “What Is the Fundamental Nature of Reality, www.newdualism.org/papers/M.Levin/ijp2001b.htm.
Robinson, Marilynne. “Religion, Science and the Ultimate Nature of Reality.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 May 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/marilynne-robinson/religion-science-and-the_b_646237.html.
“What Is The Nature Of Reality?” Philosophy Now: a Magazine of Ideas, philosophynow.org/issues/61/What_Is_The_Nature_Of_Reality.
